As an apparatus which makes sounds of a plurality of sources audible in parallel, an apparatus which switches or superposes the sound of an audio playback device and the sound of a communication device such as a portable telephone has been conventionally proposed.
For example, prior-art inventions which, when an incoming call arrives at a portable telephone or a pager while the user is listening to music by, e.g., a headphone stereo, inform the user of the arrival of the incoming call are proposed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 62-155546, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 63-146647, 03-158047, and 04-334240, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 05-031432, and Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 05-091169, 07-307773, 09-181797, and 09-321844.
The prior-art inventions described in these references are different in the connection mechanism between the audio playback device and the portable telephone and the method of performing switching or superposition. However, any of these inventions switches the sound from the audio playback device to the call incoming notification sound or speech communication sound from the communication device, or superposes the latter sound on the former sound. Any of these apparatuses automatically switches or superposes the sounds when an incoming call arrives at the communication device.
For example, the sound output data generating apparatus proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 05-091169 is connected to an audio playback device and a communication device. When an incoming call arrives at the communication device, this apparatus decreases (mutes) the sound output level of the audio playback device to 0 and outputs a call incoming notification sound or speech communication sound.
The sound output data generating apparatuses proposed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 62-155546 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 63-146647 and 03-158047 are functionally analogous to the above apparatus, except that an audio playback module and a communication module are integrated.
The sound output data generating apparatus proposed in Japanese Utility Model No. 05-031432 has a communication function capable of connecting an audio playback device. When an incoming call arrives at a communication module of the sound output data generating apparatus, the apparatus mixes a call incoming notification sound and speech communication sound with the sound from the audio playback device, and outputs the mixed sound. In mixing the speech communication sound, the apparatus decreases the sound level of the audio playback device to a predetermined value or lower, so as not to interfere with the speech communication.
The sound output data generating apparatuses proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 07-307773, 09-181797, and 09-321844 superpose a call incoming notification sound and speech communication sound on an audio sound by using one or both of muting and mixing. Although Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 04-334240 has a similar arrangement except that an audio system and a communication device are integrated. Therefore, to output the sound of the communication device, the tape of the audio system can be stopped.
In any of the above prior arts, sound sources are predetermined sources, e.g., an output from an audio device and a call incoming notification or the contents of speech communication of a communication device. Also, the settings of an output format such as switching or superposition of a plurality of sounds are predetermined in accordance with each source.
Recently, however, sources are more and more digitized, so sounds can be supplied from a wide variety of sources across networks. Therefore, various sound sources are present in addition to audio outputs and a call incoming notification and speech communication to a communication device. So, the degree of freedom of the combination of these sound sources is large. For example, a user can listen to music data acquired across networks, listen to sound broadcasting, have speech communication with the other party, and listen to notifications, such as an e-mail reception notification, from various applications on various devices or computers. That is, diverse sound sources exist.
Accordingly, if output formats such as switching and superposition of a plurality of sounds are set on the basis of the combinations of individual sources, sounds from unexpected sources cannot be processed.
Also, even the sound from the same source has various contents. So, if sound output formats are set on the basis of the combinations of individual sources, it is difficult to output a sound corresponding to the content.